Ever feel like you repeat the same trend or behaviors throughout your life? You try to drink more green smoothies and eat your veggies but before you know it the chips find their way back into your mouth. You commit to an exercise regimen but one day you can’t fit it in and that day turns into a month or a year! If this sounds like you, there is good news. You are normal! That’s right my friend. There’s nothing wrong with you and you are capable of changing your life. The even better news is that identifying your patterns is the first step in making change, so you have started the journey.

Let’s face it, change is never easy, but when you commit to taking personal responsibility for your health, happiness and energy level it becomes so empowering. Below are three actions that can help you stay the course.

Identify a clear reason or benefit to make this change. If you know that starting a daily meditation practice might help you manage work stress allowing you to be a better parent, spouse or friend, that could be a good motivator to keep in your mind every day. Perhaps you identify that if you can give up fried foods and eat more vegetables that you can get off of medications and improve your healthy longevity, that is a great reason to change. Just giving up an unhealthy habit for sake of deprivation or to flex your willpower muscles doesn’t feel gratifying. Many find that setting your sights on big picture benefits that extend to long-term and far reaching results in your life can help you stay on track.

Replace a bad habit with a healthy one. If you are trying to give up or reduce coffee, perhaps enjoy an herbal tea instead. If you need to spend less time watching television, treat yourself to a hot bath. If you need to eat less processed foods, find a new enjoyable healthy treat that you can enjoy and look forward too. Deprivation is counterproductive and over time might even lead you back to the thing you were avoiding even more! I don’t know about you, but when I am told that I cannot have something my brain automatically decides it must have it. If you give me something to replace it with I might just behave!

Make it official and track your progress. Writing down your plan is a great first step to really establish a commitment to the cause. Furthermore, journalling your progress along the way can also help you build regularity and accountability. When you take a step forward write that down! Give yourself recognition. When you take a step backward write down how it makes you feel. Most healthy lifestyle changes such as eating, exercise, or meditation tend to have a cumulative beneficial affect. It can be helpful to rate how you feel each day in your journal or chart so you can reflect back on a regular basis to remind yourself of how far you’ve come.

You have the control and power over your life to decide how you want it to go. While we are dealt certain challenges along with certain blessings, you still have the ability to make the most with it. Just because you and your parents and their parents and whoever else in your lineage, ate certain foods or behaved a certain way historically does not mean it is the best for you right now. It is imperative that you think about your food and lifestyle choices then educate yourself about how these choices can affect your quality of life and those around you. Not only must you educate yourself from external sources such as books or teachers, but you also must learn to listen to your inner teacher. Your intuition. Your experience. Quiet down your biases and judgements then learn to see how you feel after changing for a period of time. You can find a book or article to tell you exactly what you want to hear to justify pretty much any lifestyle or food choice. Most books are convincing that their diet or exercise program works and is the best for you. They cannot all be right for you - only YOU can identify what is best for you. Experiment. Try things out. Make changes. Let go of unhealthy habits and behaviors. Journal it. Learn from it. Tweak it. Reflect on your happiness. Don’t be afraid of change and remember it isn’t always comfortable in the short-term. The payoff can be more than you’ve ever imagined though. Many people don’t even realize that they feel bad until they discover what it is like to feel great! So you are alive right now - what are you waiting for? Need some help? Let us know. Shoot me an email. monica@puravegan.com